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AT THE STARTERS POST Jockey Tod Todd Sloan has been a very exten extend ¬ sively snivel interviewed personage since his arrival from England last week Columns have been published in the New York newspapers giving his impressions and opinions wise or otherwise No doubt he has been made responsible for much that he did not say However Sloan was impressively successful in England and being an intelligent man has been amply qualified to present some really interesting and instructive descriptions of features of the English turf One point he made in connection with English racing was this While right on this lino limo I want to say a word as to the general high class of the racing officials in England Everything is on a thor ¬ oughly roughly square and fair basis and there is no question of decisions in any event The starter is a gentleman and that means a good deal more over there so far as tho thou general interest is concerned than in America There is no argu argue ¬ ment meant or squabble with the jockeys at the post as seen here Every horse has his position and he must start from there There is no cutting across and far fewer fouls than wo have in America AmericaI America I suppose tho thou discipline in England is more strict but everything works so smoothly that it does not appear to bo scfat scat all The matter of starting is conducted so easily and harmon ¬ iously piously that it is a revelation to an American racing man Tho Theo starter has absolute control of the jockeys and to give an example there was not a jockey fined or suspended in all the time I was riding there I did not even hear a jockeys name mentioned by the starter and when ones name is called it usually means a fine there The horses are not at the post over five minutes as a usual thing and there is no monkey business at all allIt alIt It is regrettable that the same commentary cannot bo made on the starting department of racing in this country but a starter who does not fine and suspend jockeys scold and shout at jockeys and now and then swear at and apply foul epithets to jockeys nay even lash an oc ¬ casional cession offending boy is in truth a rare bird in our land It is true that tho thou more extreme actions enumerated are generally reserved for 1 the back stretch and other starting points re ¬ mote from the immediate vicinity of the great mass of spectators But no one who is inti into ¬ mately Mattel familiar with the details of our system of racing can fail to be painfully aware of the really scandalous lack of dignity and ordinary courtesy that characterizes the conduct of nearly all our starters when discharging their functions at the starting post To this is due tho thou other wellknown welkin fact that the majority of our jockeys are unruly dis dais ¬ respectful and as a rule seek to obtain unfair advantages while at the post Altogether the situation here is one as widely variant from that depicted by Sloan as can well be imagined imaginedIt imagined It isa Lisa not a situation beyond cure however Somo Soma day wo will have rule makers who will provide the remedy For one thing owners who instruct their jockeys to get oil in front re ¬ gardless airless of the starters authority will be heav heave ¬ ily idly fined or suspended regardless of their degree of importance or wealth For another jockeys who are disobedient and illbehaved billboard will be punished with absolute certainty whether stable boys or high salaried celebrities And for still another starters who do not conduct themselves with dignity in the discharge of their duties will be provided with successors who will
